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Sinterklaas
Santa Claus the Dutch way.
December in
my childhood was the best of all months.
Having participated in the pleasure of
Sinterklaas, Dutch style
.... 20 days later I also celebrated Christmas in real
British fashion with Santa Claus.
Well before December 6
there is no escaping it; Holland is preparing on
the grandest scale for St. Nicolas' birthday.
Sinterklaas is a stately Continental Bishop - with robes of scarlet,
heavily embroidered in gold thread and a miter on his head splendid with
jewels. Even his gloves sparkle with precious stones - and in his hand he
carries a golden crosier.
He is a far more majestic figure that the roly-poly, hearty, old man
clothed in fur-tipped red coat and high boots.
The family likeness is there just the same - both beam on the world,
particularly the children and their long white beards show them to be
unmistakably of the same family line.
In November the steamer from Spain, carrying the Saint and his entourage,
arrives in Holland, where tens of thousands of children are ready to
receive him. The Saint’s arrival is broadcast live on television.
Sinterklaas visits all schools as well as most hospitals.
On December 5th / St.
Nicholas' Eve the children put their shoes in a long, straight row in
front of the bundle of hay they leave for the good Saint's horse. The
children in Holland believe that in the night the holy man rides over the
house-tops on a snow-white steed, accompanied by a little black servant
called Peter.
As he passes each chimney he throws in presents which pour
down into the wooden shoes.
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